Email Notifications for Gifts

DonorDock provides several ways to notify your team when gifts are received. The best option depends on who should receive the notification and how much control you need over the message.

System Gift Notifications

Each DonorDock team member can manage their own Gift Notification settings from their profile.

This option is useful when a team member wants a simple email notification whenever a gift at or above a certain amount is received.

Each user controls their own notification preference and threshold.

Turn On System Gift Notifications

1. Open the Settings Menu using the grid icon in the top right of DonorDock.

2. Select My Profile.

3. Turn on the toggle to receive New Gift Notifications.

4. Enter the gift amount threshold for notifications.

   • To receive notifications for all gifts, enter 0.

5. Click Save at the top of the page.

For example, if your threshold is set to $1,000, you can use this setting to receive notifications for gifts that meet the configured threshold without receiving an email for every smaller donation.

💡 Personal Gift Notifications are configured separately by each team member. One team member changing their notification settings does not change another user's preferences.

Send Custom Gift Notifications with an Automation

For more control over when notifications are sent, who receives them, and what information is included, you can use a DonorDock Automation.

An Automation is a custom workflow that begins when a specific Trigger occurs. For gift notifications, you can create an Automation that begins when a gift is created and then uses the Send Internal Email step to notify the recipients of your choice.

The Send Internal Email step can send to:

• One or multiple email addresses

• DonorDock team members

• People who do not have a DonorDock user account

This makes Automations useful when gift notifications need to go to a shared inbox, the executive director, the finance team, development staff, or someone outside your DonorDock team.

Example Gift Notification Automation

A simple notification Automation might look like:

Trigger: Gift Created

⬇️

Step 1: Send Internal Email

You can also configure additional criteria in the Automation to control which gifts trigger a notification.

For example, you might create notifications for:

• Major gifts

• Gifts associated with a particular Campaign

• Grant gifts

• Gifts received through a particular Giving Page

• Gifts with other criteria relevant to your organization

Customize the Internal Email

The Send Internal Email step includes a message box where you can create the notification your recipients will receive.

You can insert Merge Tags into the message to dynamically include information from the donor or gift that triggered the Automation.

To insert a Merge Tag:

1. Click inside the message box where you want the information to appear.

2. Open the Merge Tag dropdown.

3. Select the Merge Tag you want to use.

4. The tag will be inserted where your cursor is.

Merge Tags appear in the editor inside double braces, such as:

{{donor.name}}

When the Automation runs, DonorDock replaces the Merge Tag with information from the actual contact or gift.

For example, an internal gift notification might be written as:

{{donor.name}} has given a gift!

Gift Date: {{gift.date | date:"MMMM dd, yyyy"}}

Gift Amount: {{gift.received_amount | currency}}

Gift Campaign: {{gift.campaign.name}}

Email: {{donor.email}}

View Donor: {{donor.contact_record_link}}

View Gift: {{gift.gift_record_link}}

When the email is sent, DonorDock replaces the Merge Tags with the corresponding information from the gift and donor records.

Receive a Copy of a Gift Receipt with BCC

A third option is available when your organization wants an internal email address to receive a copy of the receipt or thank-you email sent to the donor.

Email receipts in DonorDock use Transactional Templates. Each email Transactional Template can include a BCC address in its email settings.

Available email settings include:

• Email Receipt From

• Email Subject

• BCC

To add a BCC address:

1. Navigate to the applicable Transactional Template.

2. Open the template in the editor.

3. Click Set Email Options at the top of the template.

4. Enter the email address in the BCC field.

5. Review any other email settings.

6. Click Save.

Whenever that Transactional Template is sent, the BCC address will receive a blind copy of the email.

💡 Only one BCC email address can be configured on an individual Transactional Template.

Which Gift Notification Option Should I Use?

The three options serve different purposes and can be used independently or together.

Your organization may also use more than one method. For example, a development director might enable personal notifications for gifts over $1,000 while an Automation sends grant gift notifications to both the development and finance teams.